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What Is Food Chaining?

Food chaining takes food dislikes to acceptable by combining foods already tolerated with new food items.  This is done by manipulating tastes, textures, or colors of the food across many food exposures. The idea is to take a persons current food likes and expand food preferences to increase total food intake. 

Food chaining creates links between food profiles.  The practice  uses sensory measures such as similar textures, colors, smells, or  flavors. 

Food chaining works by combining one food a person enjoys with one fear food or food of limited tolerance.  This will ultimately help to increase the total nutrition consumed in the diet.

Who Can Use Food Chaining?

Food chaining can be beneficial for anyone!  There are a certain groups of people that may benefit the most from food chaining.People that may benefit most from a food chan include: 

• People with sensory processing issues whom may be sensitive to certain tastes or textures. 
• Individuals on the autism spectrum 
• People with food traumas (allergies, difficulty swallowing, GI issues)
• Those suffering from ARFID (avoidant restrictive food intake disorder), which is sometimes classified as extreme picky eating. 

Food chaining can also be beneficial for those with eating disorders such as anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, or orthorexia. 

Why Should We Food Chain To Increase Acceptance?

For some, the fear of food is so great that it might feel like a plate of spiders is being placed in front of them at every meal.

Extreme food aversions may lead to: 

• Weight loss and malnourishment
• Anxiety
• Feelings of shame/guilt
• Clinical signs. of malnourishment (constipation, diarrhea, hair loss, abnormal lab values). 

For those with very limited food intake, it is critical we increase their total nutrition intake as soon as possible.Food chaining can be a way to increase food tolerance while minimizing anxiety that comes along with trying new foods. 

Steps of Food Chaining For Picky Eaters

The first thing you need to do when you examine foods that you will food chain is to look at the food the picky eater already tolerates. You can map out foods a person tolerates using a food hierarchy chart (list tolerance on a scale 1-100).  The most accepted foods should go on the lower numbers. The most fear foods should go on the higher numbers.

Another way to assess food tolerances is by lumping them into easy categories. A good example of this is using traffic light colors to demonstrate which foods are tolerated.

• red = (off limits foods)
• yellow = (sometimes foods)
• green = (always acceptable foods)

You should use either a food hierarchy chart OR category lumping to assign food tolerance. Using both could get confusing.

When you are able to categorize tolerated foods you will often notice patterns. For example, a person may be more drawn too crunchy, smooth or cold foods.  

You may also notice the person leans towards foods of a certain color. Finding these similarities among already tolerated foods can help us to design our food chain to include new foods  that are similar enough to already tolerated foods.  

Looking for flavor/taste/texture similarities in foods is also sometimes known as flavor mapping.  

Using Flavor Masking In Food Chaining

An excellent way to include a new food item in food chaining is by flavor masking. 

For example certain seasonings or sauces may be well tolerated.  You can utilize these to mask the flavor and textural profile of the new food as it is being introduced. 

We may use honey mustard dressing as a way to introduce chicken or fish.  Ideally, you should reduce the use of the flavor mask as the food becomes more accepted. 

Food Chaining Examples

Ice Cream To Strawberries Chain Steps

1. Favorite ice cream 
2. Ice cream with strawberry sauce
3. Ice cream with blended strawberries and chunks
4. Strawberry jam or applesauce
5. Strawberry pieces. 

French Fries To Sugar Snap Peas Chain Steps

1.  French fries 
2. Potato Chips
3. Veggies Sticks or Sphered Potato Chips
4. Salted/Seasoned Sautéed or Roasted Snap Peas OR Harvest Snap snacks. 
5. Fresh sugar snap peas

Apples To Oatmeal Chain Steps

1. apple
2. Baked Apple
3. Baked apple Drizzled with syrup or sweetener
4. Oatmeal with apple chunks or applesauce
5. Oatmeal with apple, raisins, or other sweetener. 

Oatmeal to Store Bought Muffin Chain Steps

1. Oatmeal with fruit or sweetener
2. Oat Muffins with fruit
3. Store bought muffin

Chicken Strips To Fish Sticks Chain Steps

1. Preferred brand of chicken strips
2. Varied chicken strip brands (frozen, Mcdonalds, kfc)
3. Baked vs fried chicken
4. Fish sticks in favorite prepared style.  

Tips For Trying New Food With Food Chaining

• Don’t give up! Sometimes it takes between 10-15 times of being exposed to foods for it to be tolerated.
• Alter the method. If the food chain isn’t tolerated try changing the cooking method, color, or seasoning of the new food. 
• Only introduce one new food at a time.  Remember, new foods are likely to produce an extreme amount of anxiety. 
• Make it fun! Themed meals such as sports themed or a travel destinations may increase the likely hood of trying the food. 

Have You Tried Food Chaining? How Did It Go?

I’ve used food chaining with clients suffering from sensory issues around food, children, and those with eating disorders. 

I’ve also used food chaining with my own child, nieces and nephews!  Food chaining is an excellent way to help someone feel safe in exploring foods. 

Do you have any tips/tricks when it comes to food chaining?  Drop them in the comments below.